RUSTON — A starstruck feeling set in for Brent Diaz and his Louisiana Tech teammates during a trip to Arkansas around this time a year ago.

The stadium experience and big-program vibes stood out, especially for someone like Diaz who had signed with a program out of high school not known as a baseball power. It’s what made for an “incredible” feeling leaving the stadium with a 3-2 victory.

A week prior, the Bulldogs upended then No. 6 UL Lafayette. The win over then-No. 12 Arkansas was a glimpse Tech belonged.

“Being able to get that win kind of set the tone for us, like, ‘Hey, we can play with those guys and we can play with anybody in the country,’” Diaz recalled. “The importance of midweeks is what helped us get that at-large bid to a regional.”

Once again, the kings of the midweek during the past few years are back at it with a pair of home games against No. 24 Arkansas (6-0) that could help form the beginning stages of another successful season.

Tech thrives in these types of environments, and now the Bulldogs can do so in their home park where they’ve won 14 consecutive games, the longest active streak in the country.

First pitch Tuesday is 6 p.m. when Tech (7-0) is expecting a potential sellout for the matchup of unbeatens. Wednesday’s game will start at 3 p.m., and both games will be broadcast on CST.

“It’s an opportunity to make a statement. I look at it as we’re a regional club. If you want to be a power in college baseball, you take care of business in the middle of the week,” Tech first-year coach Lane Burroughs said. “It doesn’t matter who you’re playing, you find a way to get it done.”

To Diaz, the art of the midweek is toughness. It just so happens Tech is coming off a long weekend, winning two extra-inning games over Texas-Arlington.

The junior catcher wants to see who can handle the upcoming 48-hour grind before a three-game series against Wichita State and an upcoming road trip to Mississippi State.

“We got Arkansas coming in. It’s going to be electric. Everybody likes the big stage,” Diaz said. “Tuesday night is going to be packed, and then you go into Wednesday, and it’s like, ‘OK, everybody got their jitters out of the way.’ Everybody kind of has a feel for each other, who’s going to come out tougher on Wednesday? Who’s going to be locked in for Wednesday?”

Burroughs, admittedly, used all the “politically correct” terms to describe the next two days, referring to it as an opportunity to go 1-0. In other words, win Tuesday and worry about Wednesday when it gets there, which is why Burroughs has yet to even name a starter Wednesday.

The baseball season is a marathon to Burroughs — he warned his team Monday how pats on the back from a 7-0 start are poison — but he’s aware of how seasons can change from midweek baseball.

Take Tech for example in 2016 under the direction of former coach Greg Goff, who treated every game like it was the College World Series.

Tech beat UL Lafayette twice and Arkansas during the midweek as its three marquee wins, while padding the RPI with victories over McNeese and Northwestern State.

Including last week’s home win over Arkansas-Little Rock, Tech is 14-0 in home midweek games since 2014, and the Bulldogs are 27-4 in nonconference play since 2015.

Each coach has a different approach to midweek games. Burroughs isn’t far off from Goff in that he wants to win, although he may not be as aggressive with his pitching philosophy.

Take for instance last year when Friday night starter Tyler Clancy started three midweek games in consecutive weeks against UL Lafayette, Arkansas and LSU.

On Tuesday, Casey Sullivan will get the nod. Burroughs is of the opinion he doesn’t want to mess with the routines of his weekend guys.

That won’t limit Burroughs’ competitive drive in the dugout, though.

Like last year when closer Adam Atkins regularly worked midweek games to secure wins, Burroughs said Nate Harris and Matt Miller, the Bulldogs’ top two relievers, could make an appearance with the game on the line.

There’s also a chance Tech’s weekend starters (Kent Hasler, Casey Sutton and Cameron Linck) could see an inning at some point depending on game flow. Burroughs used eight pitchers in Sunday’s 10-inning win over Texas-Arlington.

“I’ve already talked to (pitching coach Christian Ostrander) about maybe Wednesday holding a couple of our weekends off and doing their bullpens during the game,” Burroughs said. “We may need to use them. We may take their bullpen to be an inning. Go get us three outs, go get us six outs, go throw 30 pitches. It’s more stressful on the arm because it’s live action, but in reality, that’s going to be his bullpen day anyway.”

Double midweeks, or two-game series like Tech is playing with Arkansas, are tougher to plan for. Tech can’t just empty the tank like it could for a single game.

Burroughs relies on his offense to build a cushion for his pitching staff since he doesn’t have “the luxury of a big-league bullpen.”

Sometimes, offenses explode, like last week when McNeese State hung 32 runs on ULM. Then there are times like Little Rock when Tech won in a 4-2 pitcher’s duel.

“That’s what back-to-back midweek games exposes, it exposes your depth in the bullpen,” Diaz said.

“Arkansas is going to hit. We’re going to hit, but which bullpen is going to come out stronger, which guy is going to dominate.”